The present invention relates to a cleaning control method for a recording head incorporated in a recorder which is directly connectable to an information processor such as a personal computer, a digital camera, or the like. The present invention also relates to a cleaning controller performing the method, and a recorder incorporating the cleaning controller.
A related recorder which includes a cleaner for a recording head and performs a cleaning control for the same is provided with a clock utilizing a time generating device such as an RTC or the like. Such a recorder compares time information indicated by the clock and time information stored in a nonvolatile storage medium etc. which indicates the latest time at which the recording or the cleaning operation is performed, in order to determine whether the further cleaning operation is needed. The recorder is also provided with a battery to supply power to the clock in order to maintain the clock function even when a power source of the recorder is turned off. However, since the recorder must be provided with the clock and the battery, there arises a problem that the cost of the recorder is increased.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-192728A discloses a recorder which acquires time information from an external device such as an information processing unit connected to the recorder, and clocks up through use of a software program utilizing the acquired time information. This recorder does not require the clock and the battery therein so that the above problem has been solved.
Specifically, the recorder is provided with: a receiver which receives time information from the external device when the recorder is activated, or prior to the first recording after the activation of the recorder; an information processor which clocks from an initial value set as time indicated by the received time information, by executing clock processing defined by the software program; and a determinant which determines whether the cleaning operation is needed, based on the time clocked by the information processor.
More specifically, the information processor includes a timer so called a software timer. The timer sets the time information acquired from the external device as the initial value, and performs interruption processing of the software program at each predetermined period while counting the number of the interruption processing performed. Present time information is obtained by adding a value, which is multiplication of the period of the interruption processing and the counted number of interruption processing performed, to the initial value. The obtained present time information is compared with time information stored in a nonvolatile storage medium etc. which indicates the latest time at which the recording or the cleaning operation is performed, in order to determine whether the further cleaning operation is needed.
However, in the related art, the time information received from the external device and the time information stored in the nonvolatile storage medium etc., which indicates the latest time at which the recording or the cleaning operation is performed, a current time, etc., must be provided with all of second, minute, hour, date, month, and A.D. year Then, this is accompanied by the requirement that the RAM in which the time information is stored or the storage medium such as the nonvolatile storage medium etc. is large in capacity.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost head cleaning controller and a recorder incorporating the controller in which the capacity of a storage medium required by a timer is made small.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a cleaning controller for a recording head of a recorder connected to an external device, comprising:
a timer, which acquires a first time value indicating a current time from the external device, and performs cyclic clocking in which a first predetermined time period is repetitively clocked from a predetermined time point;
a nonvolatile storage medium, which stores a second time value indicating a time at which a cleaning operation is lastly performed;
a determinant, which compares the first and the second time values to obtain a third time value, and determines whether a cleaning operation is necessary to be performed based on the third time value; and
a cleaner, which performs a cleaning operation of the recording head based on the result determined by the determinant.
In this configuration, the timer does not clock the time information including all of second, minute, hour, date, month, and A.D. year, but clocks a time with required minimum time information e.g. with the time information by the hour. Accordingly, a smaller capacity than in the related art suffices for the storage capacity which is required for the storage medium to store the time information. This arrangement enables provision of the low-cost recording head cleaning controller having the storage medium made small in capacity.
Preferably, the third time value is obtained by subtracting the second time value from the first time value. The determinant compares the third time value with a fourth time value which is obtained by subtracting a second predetermined time period from the first predetermined time period of the cyclic clocking, when the third time value is not a negative value. The determinant determines that the time indicated by the first time value is earlier than the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is greater than the fourth time value. The determinant determines that the third time value is an elapsed time period from the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is not greater than the fourth time value.
In this configuration, for example, even in case the cleaning controller is coupled to the external device such as a personal computer etc. for transmitting time information is replaced with another external device, whereby the time indicated by the first time value received from this another external device comes to have an earlier time than the time indicated by the second time value, the requirement of the cleaning operation can be determined accurately.
On the other hand, the determinant compares the third time value with a fifth time value which is obtained by adding the third time value to the first predetermined time period of the cyclic clocking, when the third time value is a negative value. The determinant determines that the time indicated by the first time value is earlier than the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is greater than the fifth time value. The determinant determines that the third time value is an elapsed time period from the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is not greater than the fifth time value.
In this configuration, for example, even if the time indicated by the first time value and the time indicated by the second time value stand in the time relation such as to stride over the predetermined time point in the cyclic clocking, the requirement of the cleaning operation can be determined accurately.
Preferably, the cleaning controller further comprises a power-off time recorder, which records a sixth time value on the nonvolatile storage medium, the sixth time value indicating a time at which the recorder is deactivated. The timer uses the sixth time value as the predetermined time point, when the recorder is activated. The timer uses the first time value as the predetermined time point, when the timer acquires the fist time value after the recorder is activated.
Upon activation of the recorder, because not including a clock, the recorder cannot clock a time until the time information is acquired from the external device. However, in this configuration, since the power-off time (the sixth time value) is stored in the nonvolatile storage medium, and upon activation, a time is clocked from the power-off time, time clocking can be enabled even during the time period after the activation of the recorder until first time value is acquired from the external device. The time clocked hereupon does not include the time period during the deactivation of the recorder, but even in case time information is not inputted from the external device immediately after the activation of the recorder, time clocking is made possible, thus enabling execution of the cleaning operation.
Preferably, the predetermined time point is zero o""clock of January 1st, and the first predetermined time period is 4 years including a leap year.
In this configuration, accurate time clocking is made possible even in a leap year, and the requirement of the cleaning operation can be determined accurately.
Here, it is preferable that the second predetermined time period is 24 hours.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a cleaning controller for a recording head of a recorder connected to an external device and including an ink system to which an ink cartridge provided with a nonvolatile storage medium is detachably attached, comprising:
a timer, which acquires a first time value indicating a current time from the external device, and performs cyclic clocking in which a first predetermined time period is repetitively clocked from a predetermined time point;
a power-off time recorder, which records a second time value on the nonvolatile storage medium, the second time value indicating a time at which the recorder is deactivated;
a determinant, which compares the first and the second time values to determine whether a cleaning operation is necessary to be performed; and
a cleaner, which performs a cleaning operation of the recording head based on the result determined by the determinant,
wherein the predetermined time point is zero o""clock of January 1st, and the first predetermined time period is 4 years including a leap year;
wherein the timer uses the second time value as the predetermined time point, when the recorder is activated; and
wherein the timer uses the second time value as the predetermined time point, when the timer acquires the fist time value after the recorder is activated.
In this configuration, in addition to the above described advantages, since the second time value is stored in the nonvolatile storage medium provided with the ink cartridge, there is no need for providing the nonvolatile storage medium in the recorder. Accordingly, thereby, the cost of the recorder can be reduced.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a recorder, which incorporates the above cleaning controllers.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method of controlling a cleaning operation for a recording head of a recorder connected to an external device, comprising the steps of:
acquiring a first time value indicating a current time from the external device;
performing cyclic clocking in which a first predetermined time period is repetitively clocked from a predetermined time point;
providing a nonvolatile storage medium, which stores a second time value indicating a time at which the cleaning operation is lastly performed;
comparing the first and the second time values to obtain a third time value;
determining whether the cleaning operation is necessary to be performed based on the third time value; and
performing the cleaning operation of the recording head based on the result determined by the determining step.
Preferably, the third time value is obtained by subtracting the second time value from the first time value. The third time value is compared with a fourth time value which is obtained by subtracting a second predetermined time period from the first predetermined time period of the cyclic clocking, when the third time value is not a negative value. It is determined that the time indicated by the first time value is earlier than the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is greater than the fourth time value. It is determined that the third time value is an elapsed time period from the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is not greater than the fourth time value.
Here, it is preferable that the third time value is compared with a fifth time value which is obtained by adding the third time value to the first predetermined time period of the cyclic clocking, when the third time value is a negative value. It is determined that the time indicated by the first time value is earlier than the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is greater than the fifth time value. It is determined that the third time value is an elapsed time period from the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is not greater than the fifth time value.
Preferably, the cleaning control method further comprises the step of recording a sixth time value on the nonvolatile storage medium, the sixth time value indicating a time at which the recorder is deactivated. The sixth time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the recorder is activated. The first time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the timer acquires the fist time value after the recorder is activated.
Preferably, the predetermined time point is zero o""clock of January 1st, and the first predetermined time period is 4 years including a leap year.
Here, it is preferable that the second predetermined time period is 24 hours.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method of controlling a cleaning operation for a recording head of a recorder connected to an external device and including an ink system to which an ink cartridge provided with a nonvolatile storage medium is detachably attached, comprising the steps of:
acquiring a first time value indicating a current time from the external device;
performing cyclic clocking in which a first predetermined time period is repetitively clocked from a predetermined time point;
recording a second time value on the nonvolatile storage medium, the second time value indicating a time at which the recorder is deactivated;
comparing the first and the second time values to determine whether the cleaning operation is necessary to be performed; and
performing the cleaning operation of the recording head based on the result determined by the determinant,
wherein the predetermined time point is zero o""clock of January 1st, and the first predetermined time period is 4 years including a leap year;
wherein the second time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the recorder is activated; and
wherein the second time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the timer acquires the fist time value after the recorder is activated.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a recording method, which incorporates the above cleaning control methods.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a program for causing a computer to control a cleaning operation for a recording head of a recorder connected to an external device, the program executing the steps of:
acquiring a first time value indicating a current time from the external device;
performing cyclic clocking in which a first predetermined time period is repetitively clocked from a predetermined time point;
providing a nonvolatile storage medium, which stores a second time value indicating a time at which the cleaning operation is lastly performed;
comparing the first and the second time values to obtain a third time value;
determining whether the cleaning operation is necessary to be performed based on the third time value; and
performing the cleaning operation of the recording head based on the result determined by the determining step.
Preferably, the third time value is obtained by subtracting the second time value from the first time value. The third time value is compared with a fourth time value which is obtained by subtracting a second predetermined time period from the first predetermined time period of the cyclic clocking, when the third time value is not a negative value. It is determined that the time indicated by the first time value is earlier than the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is greater than the fourth time value. It is determined that the third time value is an elapsed time period from the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is not greater than the fourth time value.
Here, it is preferable that the third time value is compared with a fifth time value which is obtained by adding the third time value to the first predetermined time period of the cyclic clocking, when the third time value is a negative value. It is determined that the time indicated by the first time value is earlier than the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is greater than the fifth time value. It is determined that the third time value is an elapsed time period from the time indicated by the second time value, when the third time value is not greater than the fifth time value.
Preferably, the cleaning control method further comprises the step of recording a sixth time value on the nonvolatile storage medium, the sixth time value indicating a time at which the recorder is deactivated. The sixth time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the recorder is activated. The first time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the timer acquires the fist time value after the recorder is activated.
Preferably, the predetermined time point is zero o""clock of January 1st, and the first predetermined time period is 4 years including a leap year.
Here, it is preferable that the second predetermined time period is 24 hours.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a program for causing a computer to control a cleaning operation for a recording head of a recorder connected to an external device and including an ink system to which an ink cartridge provided with a nonvolatile storage medium is detachably attached, the program executing the steps of:
acquiring a first time value indicating a current time from the external device;
performing cyclic clocking in which a first predetermined time period is repetitively clocked from a predetermined time point;
recording a second time value on the nonvolatile storage medium, the second time value indicating a time at which the recorder is deactivated;
comparing the first and the second time values to determine whether the cleaning operation is necessary to be performed; and
performing the cleaning operation of the recording head based on the result determined by the determinant,
wherein the predetermined time point is zero o""clock of January 1st, and the first predetermined time period is 4 years including a leap year;
wherein the second time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the recorder is activated; and
wherein the second time value is used as the predetermined time point, when the timer acquires the fist time value after the recorder is activated.